Compact unit for preparing concrete

ABSTRACT

A compact concrete preparing unit having a frame which carries, besides a mixer and usual equipment for supplying cement, aggregates etc. to said mixer, an overhead runway rail for a travelling hoisting winch with a concrete bucket to receive a charge of concrete from said mixer for transporting to a casting site adjacent a rail system, to which the runway rail of the compact unit may be connected after having been vertically adjusted to the level of said rail system.

United States Patent 1 1 3,625,490

[72] lnventor Gustav Erik l-lummelshoj [56] References Cited 388mm, Denmark UNITED STATES PATENTS Q QJ' $31 1 2,042,388 5/1936 Cogito 259/169 2,073,770 3/1937 Wagner.. 259/]70 [45] Paemed 3 251 584 5/1966 Kuhner 259/154 [73] Assignee Thomas Schmidt Bagsvaerd, Denmark Primary Examiner- Robert W. Jenkins 2 part interest Attorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller & Mosher [32] Priority Nov. 5, 1968 [33] Denmark [3]] 5362/68 ABSTRACT: A compact concrete preparing unlt havmg a frame which carries, besides a mixer and usual equipment for supplying cement, aggregates etc. to said mixer, an overhead [54] COMPACT UNIT FOR PREPARING CONCRETE runway rail for a travelling hoisting winch with a concrete 3Claims, 1 Drawing Fig. bucket to receive a charge of concrete from said mixer for transporting to a casting site adjacent a rail system, to which Cl 5: the runway rail of the compact unit may be connected after I Field 0 Search 259/1 54 having been vertically adjusted to the level ofsaid rail system.

COMPACT UNIT FOR PREPARING CONCRETE This invention relates to a compact unit for preparing concrete, particularly for cast concrete element factories, with a frame, in which there is mounted a concrete mixer as well as apparatuses for the supply of proportioned quantities of aggregates, cement, water and possibly steam to the mixer. Such compact units have, during the last few years, become widely used both on building sites and in factories for the manufacture of cast concrete elements and other concrete goods. This is due to the fact that it is possible to supply the complete units ready for use with all requisite auxiliary equipment, for instance, a so-called star doser and a pushbutton operated, fully or partly automatic control mechanism. Further, it is possible to move such compact units from place to place without any comprehensive dismantling.

For employment on building slits it is customary to discharge the ready-mixed mass into a concrete bucket which is suspended from a crane cable and which, in its filling position, is fixedly positioned in relation to the discharge aperture of the mixer by means of a guiding funnel having a bottom dimension corresponding to the size of the concrete bucket or a special carrier frame thereof. When using such a guiding funnel, not particularly great care is needed in the operation of the crane when the empty bucket is to be brought into position below the discharge aperture of the concrete mixer, and after having been filled, the concrete bucket can, with the aid of the crane, be transported to the actual casting site.

A similar mode of transport of the mass is less suitable in cast concrete element factories, because the method of transport for this use is too time consuming and requires too much manual operation. For the same reason, the transporting of the freshly mixed concrete to the various working sites by means of special vehicles has been dropped and preference has been given to automatically controlled transport units, e.g. those with conveyor belts or conveyor buckets. Such transport units are, in practice usually supplied by manufacturers other than those who have specialized in the construction of the compact units proper, and during the installation there consequently often arise considerable difficulties in coordinating the two parts of the complete unit and in particular with respect of the control mechanisms of the individual parts. Another difficulty is attributable to the circumstance that the concrete mass normally has to be filled into rather elevated silos at the different working sites and therefore has to be either emptied from an elevated mixer, which calls for a correspondingly great building height of the compact unit, or has to be transported both vertically and horizontally by means of a conveyor, which then must be rather complicated and requires increased space.

The compact unit according to the invention is characterized in that its frame further carries an overhead height-adjustable runway rail for a travelling hoisting winch with a concrete bucket which when lowered, with the hoisting winch stationary in a predetermined position on the runway rail, is guided down into a filling position below the discharge aperture of the mixer and, subsequent to filling, is hoisted free of the guiding means and then together with the hoisting winch, is transferred to a rail system connected to the runway rail, to be transported to the casting site.

In this case, it is possible, so to speak, to incorporate the entire control mechanism for both the mixing and the transport operation into the compact unit. In addition, in connection with the rail system leading to the different working stations or delivery stations, only simple contacts of a well-known kind are required for the actuation of component parts fonning part of the control mechanism and carried by the hoisting winch. The rail system adapted to local conditions and constructed on the spot can, consequently, be of an extremely simple construction, since all the more complicated parts or subunits in the complete ready-for-use unit are supplied together with the compact unit as integral parts of same. The practical importance of this is particularly great, because units of this kind are frequently set up in places where no qualified labor is available and where the local installation labor should consequently be limited and simplified as much as possible. This condition is met by the unit according to the invention as the installation labor on the site is reduced to the adjustment for height of the runway rail of the compact unit and the connection of same to the rail system, besides the connection of the compact unit to the power and water supply on the site.

In a preferred embodiment of the compact unit the frame comprises a pair of guide rails for the concrete bucket, arranged to catch the concrete bucket during its lowering with the hoisting winch stationary in the saidpredetermined position, and each having a substantially vertical main part which, via a bend at the bottom, passes into a horizontal or slightly inclined part directed towards the mixer.* These guide rails, which may expediently engage with associated guide rollers at diametrically opposed points of the concrete bucket, ensure a very accurate guiding of the movements of this bucket into and out of the filling position. Consequently, no need exists for manual operation when the returning empty bucket is to be brought into the filling position, or the filled bucket is to be transported from this position to the place of delivery.

The invention will now be more fully described with reference to the drawing, which in a diagrammatical side elevation illustrates an embodiment of a compact unit according to the invention in connection with automatic supply of the materials composing the concrete mass.

In the drawing, 1 designates a so-called star doser with a scraper unit 2 for bringing the aggregates 3 from the storing spaces of the unit into the weighing bucket 4 of the doser. The bucket 4 is movable from its lower position (shown in fully drawn lines) along an inclined guide 5 to an upper position (shown in dotted lines) in which its contents can be emptied into the mixer 6 of the compact unit. Cement and water may be added from an overhead feeder 18 and, when desired, other components, including steam for heating the mass, may be supplied to the mixer 6.

The difierent parts of the unit are carried by a transportable frame 7 with an upper or overhead runway rail 8 for a hoisting winch 9 which has travelling and hoisting control means, not shown in greater detail, and in which a concrete bucket 10 is suspended. This bucket is shown in full lines in its filling position below the discharge aperture of the mixer 6, and in dotand-dash lines in its lowermost position and once again in dotand-dash lines in the uppermost position and labeled 10. The concrete bucket may be of a construction known per se, e.g. with bottom flaps which are kept closed by the pull of the suspension cable of the bucket.

The hoisting winch 9 is shown in the drawing in its terminal position on the runway rail 8 nearest to the mixer 6. The hoisting winch arrives at this. position with the empty concrete bucket 10 hoisted up to the maximum. When the bucket is lowered, a pair of diametrically mounted guide rollers 19 are caught by a pair of associated guide rails 11, which force the bucket to be lowered vertically, and which at the bottom, via bent parts, pass into essentially horizontal rail parts 12, which extend to a point below the mixer 6. The movement of the bucket 10 in the rail parts 12 can be effected by means of a jack 13, which is brought into and out of engagement with the bucket, but the bucket can also be moved into and away from its filling position by other means, e.g. by a carriage or trolley running on a horizontal path and on which the bucket is deposited by means of the hoisting winch 9.

When the bucket 10 has been filled with a change from the mixer 6, it is hoisted-up to its maximum height so as to come clear of the uppermost end of the guide rails 11. Subsequent to this, the bucket shall be brought to a desired delivery position, e.g. above a silo 15 or 16 at a selected working station in a cast concrete element factory. For this purpose the runway rail 8 is connected to a rail system 17 leading to the different working stations of the concrete element factory. The height level of such rail system may vary from factory to factory, and for this reason the runway rail 8 is vertically adjustable in the framework 7.

After emptying, the concrete bucket 10 can be automatically transported back to the filling position.

lclaim:

l. A compact unit for preparing concrete, in particular for cast concrete element factories, comprising a frame, a concrete mixer mounted in said frame together with apparatuses to supply proportioned quantities of aggregates, cement, water and possibly steam to said mixer, an overhead height-adjustable runway rail carried by said frame, a hoisting winch mounted for movement along said runway rail between a predetermined position adjacent said mixer and a free end of the rail remote from the mixer, a concrete bucket suspended from said hoisting winch, and means for guiding said concrete bucket to and away from a filling position below a discharge aperture of said mixer when said hoisting winch is in said predetermined position, said guiding means being disengaged from said bucket in its raised position so as to allow said hoisting winch with said bucket to travel from said predetennined position past said free end of the runway rail.

2. A compact unit as claimed in claim I, wherein said bucket guiding means comprise a pair of guide rails arranged to catch said concrete bucket during its lowering with said hoisting winch in said predetermined position, each of said guide rails having an essentially vertical main part which, via a bend at the bottom, merges into a horizontal or slightly inclined part directed towards said mixer.

3. The unit of claim 1 in which the overhead runway rail is substantially horizontal and the bucket is supported only by the winch so that the bucket is vertically moveable anywhere along said runway rail.

t t t t II! 

1. A compact unit for preparing concrete, in particular for cast concrete element factories, comprising a frame, a concrete mixer mounted in said frame together with apparatuses to supply proportioned quantities of aggregates, cement, water and possibly steam to said mixer, an overhead height-adjustable runway rail carried by said frame, a hoisting winch mounted for movement along said runway rail between a predetermined position adjacent said mixer and a free end of the rail remote from the mixer, a concrete bucket suspended from said hoisting winch, and means for guiding said concrete bucket to and away from a filling position below a discharge aperture of said mixer when said hoisting winch is in said predetermined position, said guiding means being disengaged from said bucket in its raised position so as to allow said hoisting winch with said bucket to travel from said predetermined position past said free end of the runway rail.
 2. A compact unit as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bucket guiding means comprise a pair of guide rails arranged to catch said concrete bucket during its lowering with said hoisting winch in said predetermined position, each of said guide rails having an essentially vertical main part which, via a bend at the bottom, merges into a horizontal or slightly inclined part directed towards said mixer.
 3. The unit of claim 1 in which the overhead runway rail is substantially horizontal and the bucket is supported only by the winch so that the bucket is vertically moveable anywhere along said runway rail. 